After Biden Visit, North Korea Launches Ballistic Missiles
North Korea test-fired three ballistic missiles Wednesday, hours after U.S. President Joe Biden wrapped up a visit to Northeast Asia.
U.S. officials had repeatedly warned that North Korea could conduct a long-range missile launch, or even a nuclear test, during or around Biden's Asia trip.
While North Korea refrained from any tests during Biden's visit, it launched its latest flurry of missiles about 12 hours after he left Japan.
In an alert to reporters, South Korea's military said North Korea launched three ballistic missiles from the Sunan area of Pyongyang toward the sea off its eastern coast.
Japan's military reported that North Korea launched a pair of suspected ballistic missiles.
The reason for the discrepancy between the number of missiles reported by Japan and South Korea was not immediately clear.
The range of the missiles was also not yet known.
Shortly after Biden landed in the Washington area, he was briefed on the North Korean launches, U.S. officials said.
In a statement, the U.S. military said that the launches did not pose "an immediate threat to U.S. personnel or territory, or to our allies," but that the event "highlights the destabilizing impact" of North Korean weapons.
North Korea has conducted 17 rounds of launches this year. In March, it tested an intercontinental ballistic missile, its first such test in nearly five years.
The nuclear-armed North regularly came up during Biden's discussions in South Korea and Japan.
